Felix hembebt and edmond heney



(No Model.)

E'. HEMBERT 8v E. HENRY. PROCESS OP AND APPARATUS PGR PRODUGING GAS POR LIGHTING AND HEATNG PURPOSES.

Patented Apr. 6

www.

NITED STATES PATENT trice,

FELIX HEMBERT AND EDMQND HENRY, 0F PARTIS, FRANCE.

PROCESS OF AND APPARATUS FOR PRODUCING GAS FOR LIGHTING AND HEATING PURPOSES.

S?ECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 339,409, dated April 6, 1886.

Application filed December 2G, IEEEi. Serial No. 186,758. (No model.) Patented in France October 9, IPH?, No, 157,921; in Belgium January 9, 1884, No. 63,800, and in England January 10, 1884, No. l ,l93.

To all wlw/n, it may concern:

Beit known thatwe, FELD: Herinner and EDMOND HENRY, citizens of the Republic of France, and residents of Paris, in said Republic, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in the Process of and Apparatus lor Producing Gas for Lighting and Heating Purposes, of which the following specification is a full, clear, and exact description.

This invention relates to the production of lighting and heating gas in ordinary gaswvorks by means ofthe incandescent coke remaining in the retorts after the coal has been distilled for the production of ordinary illuminatinggas or .coal-gas, and by the coke powder or fragments which are produced in considerable quantities in gas-Works.

In accordance with the invention, when a charge of coal has been distilled, water or steam is brought into contact with the incandescent coke remaining in the retort, so as to be decomposed by the incandescent carbon, the mixture of hydrogen, carbonio acid, and carbonio oxide, known as water-gas being produced. rlhis water-gas can be conveyed away for use with or Without purification, or,

if it be desired to obtain pure or nearly pure the water-gas from the iirst decomposition can be heated with steam in the same or an adjoining retort, so as to effect adecomposition of the steam or water vapor and the conversion of the carbonio oxide into carbonio acid. The carbonio acid can be removed with linie.

To enable the ordinary coal-gas and the water-gas to be carried off separately from the retort, the latter is provided with two outlets or mains.

lf desired, hydrocarbon can be brought into contact with the incandescent coke for the production of a very rich gas.

The colrepowder and similar products are utilized by changing the same with the retorts and bringing steam or hydrocarbon into contact with the same. To carry out these pro cesses, additions can be made to the ordinary retorts, or a special forni of retort, hereinafter described, may be used.

hydrogen,

These gases Vmay be used either in the Works itself-as, for example, for the production of motive force by the use of electricity'or compressed air-as agents for the transmission of the same to houses, or they can be distributed by special means. In the latter case these gases can be used for various purposes, of which the following maybe mentioned: First, the heating of all kinds offurnaces or ovens for domesticcr other purposes; second, the production of motive force by using them in gasengines; third, the use for lighting by raising to incandescence suitable substancessuch as platinum, magnesia, and the like; fourth, an illuminating-gas properly so called by mixing or combining either at the time of their manufacture or afterward with hydrocarbons having a high illuminatilig-power.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure l is a sectional elevation of an ordinary gas-retort provided with additions for carrying the present invention into effect; Figs. 2 and 3, longitudinal and cross section, respectively, of another arrangement; Figs. a and 5, views of an arrangement for cli'ecting a second decomposition in the same retort; Figs. 6 and 7, views on an enlarged scale of means for protecting the steam-inlet pipe from the cokepowder; Figs. 8 and 9, longitudinal and cross section, respectively, of a special retort for carrying the invention into ci'i'ect; and Fig. l0, a det-ail view on an enlarged scale.

W'hen it is proposed to obtain only a combustible gas for heating, it sufiices, as shown in Fig. 1, to place in the upper part of an ordinary gas-retort, A, a pipe, B, which can be either fixed or removable, and which is perforated so that after the distillation of the coal has been inished an injection of water or steam can be made, \vhicli,by contact with the incandescent coke, is transformed into hydrogen and carbonio oxide. The steam is brought through the pipe C, provided with a stop-cock. The upper part of the retort is provided with an escapepipe, D, terminating in two mains, E and F, the main E serving for the escape of the ordinary gas, and the other, F, for the escape of the combustible gas manufactured, as has been described,

similar immediately after the ordinary gas has ceased to be distilled. In each of these mains there is a valve, G H, respectively. These valves are connected together, so that when one is closed the other is opened. The combustible gas, which escapes by the main F, asalso the ordinary gas, is carried into a purifier and from there into a special gasometer.

The puriiication of the combustible gas has for its object to remove, when that is judged necessary, the carbonio acid which is formed in the retorts, as well as the undecomposed steam, which condenses by simply cooling'.

A gas of high illuminatingpowcr can be made in the same apparatus by bringing into the retort, immediately after the distillation of the cold iiu'id hydrocarbons, which are decom posed by the incandescent coke. In this way the heat which the coke contains is utilized.

The gas of high illuminating-power can be received either in a special gasometer or in a gasometer which receives the coalgas which has been produced previously by the distillation of the coal, or in a gasometer containing the combustible gas, in order to increase its illuminating-power.

By the combustible gas is to be understood the gas obtained by the decomposition of the steam in the presence of incandescent carbon, commonly known as water-gas.77 In any case the mixture of coal-gas or the combustible gas with the rich gas obtained by the decomposition of the hydrocarbons can be made in all proportions according to the illuminat-ing-power which it is desired to give to the same.

ln order to utilize the powder and small particles of coke which are produced in the manufacture ol coal-gas, and which constitute about one-fifth ot' the total production of coke and have a very small commercial value, they are charged into the ordinary retorts with or without a certain proportion of ordinary coal, and after having been raised to a red-heat, steam or water (steam being superheated or not) is introduced and broughtinto contact with the coke. The water is decomposed by contact with the incandescent coke and produces combustible gas composed, chiefly, ofhyd rogeu,carbonic acid, and carbonic oxide.

Carbonio gas can be removed by purification with lime.

In order to insure the intimate contact of they steam with the incandescent coke `in the retort, it is preferable to employ one of the arrangements shown in Figs. 2, 3, 4, and 5.

As shown in Fig. 2, the steam is injected by means of a number of perforated pipes I. For operating on cokepowder these pipes terminate in conical ends, in order that they may penetrate more readily the mass of the powder. l

In order to facilitate the insertion of the pipes I, a series of refractory plates, J, per forated with conical holes, are placed on the bottom of the retort, the pipes I passing under them. These plates can have various formsas, for example, the undulated form shown at K in Fig. 6-the holes for permitting the escape of the steam being nearly horizontal, so that they are not likely to be obstructed by the coke-powder or ashes. Vith the same Object, inverted troughs L, provided with lateral holes and placed separately from each of the pipes I, can be used. (See Fig. 7.) This arrangement has the twofold advantage o't preventing the powder and ashes from obstructing the orices, and also of permitting the powder to come into direct contact with the bottom of the retort A, so that it is more readily raised to a proper temperature. A gas of high illuminating-power can also be obtained with this coke-powder by arranging in the upper part of the retort, as shown in Figs. 4 and 5, a horizontal pipe, M, perforated on the bottom, through which liquidhydrocarbon can be showered upon the incandescent coke. Preferably, instead of allowing the hydrocarbon to fall directly upon the coke, the pipe M is inclosed in the chamber N, which communicates wit-h the interior of the retort A at the rear of the same, so that the hydrocarbons drop upon the bottom of the said chamber, and, being vaporized, are mixed with the gas passing from the retort A.

For the manufacture of pure hydrogen the.

same arrangement shown in Figs. et and 5 may be used. In this case steam is introduced through the pipe M, instead of the hydrocarbon. This steam, in consequence of the high temperature to which it is subjected, is decomposed by the carbonic oxide in the gas escap ing from the retort A, and said carbonio oxide is-converted into carbonio acid, liberating the hydrogen from the decomposed steam. This decomposition is facilitated by the contact of the gas with the wallsof the chamber N, which are raised to a very high temperature. The gas escaping from the retort is composed almost entirely yot' hydrogen and carbonic acid.

IOO

This latter is then absorbed by lime or the milk of lime during the passage of the gas through the purifier. It will be understood that this second operation for transforming carbonio oxide into carbonio acid, by decomposed steam at a high temperature canv also be effected, if p it be so desired, in aneighboring retort or furnace to that in which the operation is carried on. In this case the gaseous mixture from the retort containing incandescent powder passes into a neighboring retort into which steam is introduced. This second retort isflled in part with refractory material, so arranged as to form tortuous paths, which the gas and steam are obliged to follow,so that they become IIS intimately mixed and remain for acertain time Y in the presence of each other at a high texnperature. c

The operations described can be carried on in the ordinary coal-gas retorts with but-slight modications. A special arrangement of the retort which seems to fulfill the necessary conditions for the economical production of the several gases is, however, shown in Figs. 8, 9, and 10. This retort l is placed in the furnace in the ordinary way, and receives its charge of coal to be distilled for procuring the ordinary illuminating-gas. For this object it is provided with a metallic head, Q, having a door for introducing the charge, and an escape-pipe, O, for carrying oft' the ordinary coal-gas. The operation of distillation being ended, the escape-pipe O is closed, and steam is introduced into the retort through the passages S, formed in the walls of the retort. These passages communicate with the interior of the retort through perforations in the walls ofthe saine. rlhe flow of the steam is regulated by the stop-cock R. 0n coming into contact with the incandescent coke which the retort contains, the steam, which is superb cated by its passages S, is decomposed, and there is formed a mixture of carbonio oxide and hydrogen, which enters the passage T at the front oi' the retort. At this point it meets a second supply of steam, which is introduced by the passage V, the iiow of the steam being regulated by the stop-cock U. The gas from the retort P and the steam from the passage V pass together over and in contact with 0bstructions X in the mixing-chamber at the top of the retort, and escape at the rear Z of the retort through thepipe Y. In passing through the mixing-chamber the carbonio oxide decomposes the steam with the production of hydrogen and carbonio acid. From the pipe Y the gases are carried into the purifiers, wherein the carbonio acid is removed, if thought desirable, with lime. The carbonio oxide,which it is possible the gas may contain after the second reaction, can also be removed, if judged necessary. The pipe Y is provided with a valve, which is closed when the valve in the pipe O is open. By the special form ol the retort P and the special arrangement of the steam-passages and mixing-chamber said retort can be employed without difficulty for the distillation of coal for the production of ordinary coal-gas and for the manufacture of a combustible or water gas, composed after its purification of oxide of carbon and hydrogen, or of pure hydrogen, if it is desired to obtain pure hydro- (fen. c lt is obvious that the forms of the several parts and other details can be varied without departing from the spirit of the invention, and also that parts of the invention may be used separately.

XVe claimw l. The improvement in gas manufacture consisting in distilling coal in the ordinary manner in a retort, treating the coke remaining in the retort while incandescent with steam for the production of water-gas after the ordinary distilling operation, and heating said water-gas with a new supply of steam to oxi dize the carbonio oxide, substantially'as described.

2. The improvement in gas manufacture consisting in forming water-gas in the retort, and oxidizing the carbonio oxide in another part of the same retort with steam by mixing the steam with the water-gas, and causing the mixture to traverse a chamber in the upper part oi' the retort, substantially as described.

3. In the manufacture of gas from coal, the improvement consisting in introducing coke-powder or small particles of coke resulting from the distillation of coal into ordinary retorts, injecting steam into the mass through numerous small openings, and then in the same retort heating the mixed gases with a second supply of steam to oxidize the carbonio oxide, substantially as described.

4. The combination, with a retort for the production of gases of diiierent qualities, of two outlets or mains, a valve in each main, and mechanism connecting the valves with each other, so that one is closed when the other is opened, substantially as described.

5. The combination, with an ordinary retort for the manufacture of gas from coal, of a perforated pipe for the introduction of steam or hydrocarbon into said retort, and two outlets or mains provided cach with a valve Vfor closing the saine when the other main is in use, substantially as described.

6. The combination, with a gas-retort for use in decomposing a luid-such as steamby contact with hot solid material in small pieces-such as the coke-powder describedof a perforated pipe running thelength of said retort at the bottom of the same for injecting the duid, and a perforated refractory plate immediately above the pipe for supporting the solid material out of contact with said pipe and permitting the free flow of the fluid into said retort and into and through the said solid material, the perforations being distributed the Whole length of said plate, so that the decomposition may take place throughout the length of said retort, substantially as described.

7. The combination, with a gas-retort for use in decomposing a fluid by contact with hot solid material in small pieces, of a series of perforated pipes at the bottom of the said retort for injecting the fluid, and an undulated plate or series of inverted troughs over said pipes for supporting the solid material out of contact with said pipes, said plate or inverted troughs being perforated for the free passage of the fluid into the solid material resting on the same, substantially as described.

8. A horizontal retortprovided at the lower part with one or more pipes or passages running the length of said retort, and provided with openings or perforations for injecting a fluid in numerous streams into the said retort, and at the upper part with a mixing- IOO IIO

chamber opening into the retort at one 62nd,' In testimony whereof We have signed this Io and with a pipe for introducing a fluid into specification in the presence of two subscribthe gas in passing or before passing through ing witnesses.

said mixing-chamber, substantially as de- FELIX .HEMBERIX scribed. ,T

9.` A gas-retort provided with two outlets, EDMOAD HENRY and having also pipes for injecting steam, Vitnesses: and a mixing-chamber, substantially as de- ROBT. M. HOOPER,

scribed. i EUG. DUBIN. 

